Textile shippers' tickets

A while ago I paid an all-too-brief visit to the Science and Industry Museum and was taken in by the collection of shipper’s tickets.

A shipper ticket was a trademark stamp each textile merchant would attach to the cloth they sold. Branding, in other words. They designed each stamp with their customers in mind, using motifs and colours they believed would appeal to them, and, of course, made their stamp unique and recognisable.

They’re beautiful.

And I must go back to Manchester.